Large bowl

Place of OriginProbably Egypt

DateMamluk period, (1250-1517)

DimensionsH: 17 cm (6 11/16 in.); Diam: 36.8 cm (14 1/2 in.)

MediumGlass, blown, tooled on the pontil, enameled and gilded on the interior; applied foot

ClassificationGlass

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1944.33

Not on View

DescriptionBrownish colorless glass; enameled in gold letters on blue ground. Arabesques in red, white, and green enamel. Narrow bank of gold ornament. Deep shape on conical foot.

Label TextThis bowl is one of the few surviving glass objects not dedicated to a sultan or emir of the Mamluk Empire (centered in Egypt), but to the ruler of a less powerful dynasty with strong diplomatic ties to the Mamluks. The Rasulids ruled a region that corresponds approximately to modern Yemen. They controlled access to the Red Sea from the south, and it was essential for the Mamluks to keep the trading route to and from the Indian Ocean open. The bowl was likely a diplomatic gift from Cairo and carries the Rasulid emblem of a five-petaled rosette. The prominent enameled inscription praises the Rasulid sultan al-Mujahid cAli ibn Dawud (ruled 1321–63). The inscription is legible correctly only if one looks directly at the interior of the bowl or if the inscription’s shadow is projected onto another surface below. It is possible, therefore, that the bowl was in fact a lamp suspended by a metal ring and chains.Published ReferencesPage, Jutta-Annette, The Art of Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, Toledo Museum of Art, 2006, p. 68-70, repr. (col.) p. 68-69.

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: Map and Guide, London, Scala, 2009, p. 15, repr. (col.)

Spallanzani, Marco, Vetri Islamici a Firenze nel primo Rinascimento, Florence, Studio Per Edizioni Scelte, 2012, repr. (col.) pp. 74-75. Blair, Sheila and Jonathan Bloom, eds., God is Beautiful and Loves Beauty: the Object in Islamic Art and Culture, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2013, repr. (col.) p. 207.

Exhibition HistoryNew York, The Hagop Kevorkian Fund Special Exhibitions Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Five-Petaled Rosette: Mamluk Art for the Sultans of Yemen, 1995-96.

Tampa Museum of Art, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Clearly inspired: Contemporary glass and its origins, 1990, p.19, 124, repr. (col.), p. 19, 101 and back cover (col.).

Corning Museum of Glass, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Athens, Benaki Museum, Glass of the Sultans, 2001-2002, no. 132, p. 266-68, repr. 267 (side view, col.), p. 28 (interior, col.)